updated 02:15 pm EDT, Sat August 20, 2011

Microsoft maintains PC not middle-aged yet

Microsoft's Corporate Communications VP Frank Shaw maintained his defense of Windows again with a response to the upheaval of the past few weeks. Trying once more to downplay "post-PC" talk, he argued that PCs not only had some core features that only they could do but that devices like the iPad were losing the advantage. Tablets were just "companions," and computers were "rapidly and dramatically" improving on what these and other mobile devices were doing, Shaw said.

Elaborating, he also maintained that there was a split between what mobile devices and PCs could do. Both could communicate with others and consume content, but only PCs were doing a good job of creating content and collaborating with others. Those last two tasks were "central to the idea" of a PC, Shaw contended.

The executive criticized journalists and accused them of creating a situation where tablets could only 'kill' the PC, not simply act as a complement. The majority of the devices were simply bolstering existing technology, not replacing it. PCs as such were not only alive but young and still had ample room to grow.

"While it's fun for the digerati to pronounce things dead, and declare we're post-PC, we think it's far more accurate to say that the 30-year-old PC isn't even middle aged yet, and about to take up snowboarding," according to Shaw.

The argument that PCs weren't being hurt carries ironic but possibly deliberate timing. HP, in axing its mobile devices and seriously contemplating quitting the PC business, specifically blamed tablets for wanting to get out of traditional computers. The company is currently the world's largest PC builder and, while it may sell off the division to a competitor, is expected to disrupt the PC industry if and when a sale happens.

Most industry analysts, including those at Gartner and IDC, directly attribute the iPad and other tablets for a shrinking PC market across the majority of Windows manufacturers.

Devices like the iPad do currently face limitations in creating content, although some of this has been attributed to performance and relatively young operating systems rather than limitations. Most of Microsoft's attempts to catch up are centered not on the present, like Shaw claims, but on the future. Windows 8 is designed to give Windows tablets a genuinely touch-native interface for the first time and will support ARM processors, potentially giving them the battery life and thin profiles that Windows tablets don't have right now. The OS won't be sent to manufacturers until at least April, however, and is leaving Microsoft without true competition for as much as a year.

MichaelC

"Post-PC" ≠ "PC is dead." It simply means that the PC is longer driving the consumer digital device marketplace in terms of sales-growth potential and in terms of development. Similarly, the United States is a post-agrarian nation now, but it doesn't mean that the US doesn't have or need any farms.

Not learning from History

Replace Tablet and PC with PC and Mainframe and you would have had a statement from IBM etc from about thirty years ago. I seem to remember somebody back then saying "The PC is fine for gaming and writing shopping lists but you need the power of a mainframe to do serious coding or editing or graphical work..."

How many people you know have replaced a desktop with a laptop. The laptop of 1994 was not powerful enough to be a desktop replacement, Today for many, it is. Today people are doing basic photo editing and movie editing on iPads and their phones. This was something that needed a PC ten years ago and a serious Workstation or Mainframe twenty.

Times move on. I suspect in ten years Tablets will be the most common computer platform and their abilities will outshine todays Laptops and probably todays PC. PCs will always be around, just as Servers will and even Mainframes. They'll just be a smaller and smaller part of the industry.

Denial

Dream on.

The guy has no choice - he cannot abandon Windows. As far as Windows tablets catching on - yeah just like WebOS tablets caught on. Sure at some point Windows tablets will capture 10 to 20% of the market but they will be a small dissatisfied community of people who spent their money on a product that will not perform (basically windows has never performed).

The WIndows attitude is so frustrating

The tablet is nothing more than a PC companion. NO! My phone and tablet have replaced the PC for most of my non-programming needs. If I didn't code in C# .Net then in all honesty and seriousness ask, why do I need Windows anymore. Peek to the answer-----> I don't. Now if this guys is talking pure business, then yes the PC and laptop rule in a brick and mortar office.. In a mobile workforce is line is blurred. So maybe I should ask of this guy, what part do I maybe not get?

I sure hope he's not worried

but I am pretty sure he is, he's just spinning. Mr. Softy must have shat his pants when HP kicked webOS to the curb. Imagine if some guy who bicycles on weekends decided to enter the Tour de France halfway through the race, and thinks he's going to catch up to the leader who is Lance Armstrong.

Apple has First Mover advantage

With Windows based PC growth stagnant or falling, and margins for Windows machines being so low, in most cases a drop in sales of more than 5% to 10% is all that is needed for Windows PC manufacture to become unprofitable. Wndows PCs have become commoditised products with too many makers doing the same things: trying to copy Apple.

Meanwhile, Apple do their own thing and carry on growing both their strongly growing PC making Mac division, and the Smartphone and Tablet sectors with which their innovative products have energised the market.

Like IBM, HP have finally woken up to the fact that the only people who really make a profit out of Windows, is Microsoft. Just look at the margins - HP PC 5% GROSS margin; Microsoft NET Profit over 30%.

Explain tablets to me

Huge Mac fan here but I need someone to explain tablets to me. I went looking for something to replace my Chromebook that I got from Google and like the premise of it. I just wish it did more. Hence my search....

I can't afford a $999 Macbook Air but want something light and compact.

Looked at the Tablets - iPad is overpriced, Android tablets are about the same price. Neither have a good keyboard and would fit how I use a machine - on my lap. Or what I want out of it - something small I can type on, surf the FULL web, and maybe use to hold pics when I'm out.

So I looked at Netbooks. Ended up getting a $299 Acer Aspire 1 722 11" Netbook that has the same screen size and resolution as the Air. It's slower than my full size Mac but it's very light and portable. It works decently and I think it will fit the bill. I'm not digging Windows 7 so may try Linux or Hackintoshing it. It does have a cramped keyboard but I think it's better than the on screen keyboard of an iPad or other Tablet.

I'm not sure why I should pay more for less functionality. I just don't get it why tablets are hot. I mean I play with the iPad all the time but just don't get it. I want to get it but I don't when there are more capable machines out there (Netbooks and the Air) for not much more $$.

A large percentage

of "computer" users really need nothing more than an iPad (or a similar tablet, when/if it ever comes along). The iPad covers many user's needs, while being much easier to maintain. Are there still applications for desktop machines of laptops? I'm sure there will be for some time to come. But for many folks, the tablet paradigm really fits the bill.

Not in the Post-PC Era?

Notice Apple Computer? I mean, "Apple, Inc." Remember that company changed its name from Apple Computer to Apple.

Now, take a look at Apple's financials. Hmmm... It looks like the vast majority of their revenue is coming from their non-Macintosh product line.

Now, let's take a look at a few companies you're familiar with like ...I don't know... Dell, HP, and Apple and see which is growing the fastest. Hmmm... Looks like it's Apple. The one company that has completely embraced the "Post-PC" era.

You can spin it however you like. But, PC sales have been slumping since the iPad came out. First the netbooks, and now the low end notebooks. And, that "can't create" line about tablet computers is a bit stale. The entire iWorks suite is available on the iPad and you can easily use Google Docs. iMovie is also on the iPad and so are many music composition programs and drawing and photo manipulation tools.

The only thing not on the iPad is a programming environment, and how many PC users actually program their machines?

Windows on ARM = Clusterf--k

Apple transitioned its OS from one family of chips to another, twice. Both times it was a relatively smooth transition especially considering the complexities involved. Microsoft has never before faced this challenge, and from what I've seen from Microsoft, running Windows 8 on an ARM processor will be the ultimate test of how much frustration a user can tolerate.

sort of ironic

For a decade, Bill Gates and others at Microsoft have stated that Tablets were the future, and that eventually everyone will have one instead of a PC. Well, that's now happened. But, it's not a Windows tablet. It's not entirely the same vision. So, we see back-peddle in full swing.

Maybe not a post pc but post laptop

Many home and business users are realizing that they really don't need a laptop for portability when they can really just have an iPad for portability and either rely on the corporate virtual desktops in a corporate environment through technologies like Citrix or other remote access software for home users.

They realize that they don't need to compromise between power and portability to have both by having a desktop at home or at their desk and a tablet to use on the road or even just away from their desk.

Some people will insist on laptops still but for many, it does not make sense to have a desktop AND a laptop or to choose between price, power and portability with a laptop that is ultimately a compromise of power and one of those other factors.

Whoa! If he keeps talking up

Windows tablets like that, pretty soon he's bound to believe his own BS. My major burning question is if past Windows tablets could do all the things he said they could do, why were they never a success with consumers? What is going to make them a success with consumers this time around? Whatever limitations tablets have, a Windows tablet is not going to change those limitations. You'll probably still need to at lease move up to notebook. The thing with the iPad is whatever limitations it has it does very well up to that limit. A tablet is a device that probably has a lot of compromises, but the iPad must have a very good balance of compromises that most tablets don't have. How can a Windows tablet be a better tablet than the iPad just because it runs Microsoft Office. I doubt if the average person could do all that much with MS Office on a tablet. It's likely too complicated to be touch-driven. I'm very curious as to what this killer app is going to be that will attract consumers to buy Windows tablets.

I'm also rather certain that Microsoft is just trying to protect the Windows franchise. It's how they make their money, so they absolutely can't just let it die. It does somehow look like it might die of its own accord as the rest of the world moves on. I personally don't think most consumers need a Windows desktop computer anymore. They may need a computer with a keyboard, but that's about it. A full desktop OS is overkill for most consumers.